iTunes Review

The Piedmont blues of Georgia and the Carolinas is stylish and refined, and no musician embodied these qualities better than Blind Willie McTell. Featuring sides from the late ’40s, this collection documents a well-seasoned bluesman whose ragtime-flavoured 12-string sounds nothing short of sublime; just absorb the lyrical, percussive qualities of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie". Themes of sin and redemption make his songs even more gripping: The one-two punch of “You Got to Die” and “Ain’t It Grand to Live a Christian Life” sums up McTell’s worldview.

Biography

Born: 05 May 1901 in Thomson, GA

Genre: Blues

Years Active: '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s

Willie Samuel McTell was one of the blues' greatest guitarists, and also one of the finest singers ever to work in blues. A major figure with a local following in Atlanta from the 1920s onward, he recorded dozens of sides throughout the '30s under a multitude of names -- all the better to juggle "exclusive" relationships with many different record labels at once -- including Blind Willie, Blind Sammie, Hot Shot Willie, and Georgia Bill, as a backup musician to Ruth Mary Willis. And those may not...